Employee Training on iPod Playlist

More podcast content is on the way.

Employees of capital one have a good excuse for listening to an iPod at work. The McLean, Virginia-based financial services company has launched a training program using podcasts, digital recordings that users download and play back at their leisure.

Using a customized Web portal from a home computer, workers can download more than a dozen lessons on topics ranging from diversity to the elements that constitute the company’s quarterly earnings call. One goal is to present information about topics that affect the entire company. "The more people understand the business model, the more value they add," says Ted Forbes, the company’s director of learning services. To help, the company bought 3,000 iPods--complete with an engraved company logo. Employees keep them as long as they remain with the company.

The company expects podcasts to reduce the time employees spend learning in a classroom, as well as costs it incurs when bringing groups to Virginia for training. Initial results are promising: 65 percent of audio learners reported saving time over traditional learning methods. Dollar figures aren’t yet available. Forbes says that more podcast content is on the way, and will include speeches and even suggested listening from the company’s executives.